E3 2010: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Hands on

[Mstrswrd]

What makes it alright with me is the fact that, pretty early on, they openly said that it's "AU" (Alternate Universe). As in, it has approximatly fuck-all to do with what already exists.

Of course, I'm almost positive that it started off as something completely different (Just "Lords of Shadow"), and than Konami grew interested, so... yeah.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

I just hope they don't do what most of the castelvania games have done since SOTN, that is make it seem like dracula has nothing to do with this game and then at the last part, reveal that he was behind it the whole time. It was neat when SOTN did it but since then it's been repeated in like 4 games and it's starting to get old.

Mega Man (the main series) has been doing this since the fourth game in the series. Seriously, Capcom, after 6 games of this, we're no longer shocked that it's actually Wily who was behind it the whole time. Though in Mega Man's defense (referring to the series), I think that the whole "You can see it coming right from the beginning" is meant to be more satirical. Basically a "who takes these stories seriously anyway" sort of thing, where Castlevania does try to take itself seriously... :/

Also, just for the record even though the guy who made the article probably won't read this, you do know that exploring wasn't really in the series until Symphony, right? Up until then it was mostly just about walking through a level hoping medusa heads and crows didn't knock you down a hole until you reached the boss and whipped it to death and moved onto the next stage. Repeat until you killed Death and Dracula.

actually...castlevania 2 was about exploring it was the first to feature rpg elements to the series also cv3 had multiple paths so the series has always been about exploring

Castlevania 2 is also regarded as the worst game of the series pre-SotN, and I don't really consider picking which linear path you take as "exploring", so Cv3 doesn't really count. If you did your Castlevania homework, you'd skip those two games and goto Rondo of Blood*. Rondo of Blood is often considered to be the pinnacle of the classic-style Castlevania games, rivaled mostly by Cv4 on the SNES, and it has multiple paths that you have to actually look for, so it isn't just a matter of picking your linear path, it's a matter of having to find the other path.

*And now that Rondo of Blood is available on both Virtual Console and PSP, you have no excuse for not doing your homework unless you're a diehard Microsoft fanboy, but I doubt that since few games have been X-Box exclusive. Now go out there and play one of the best Castlevania games ever! NOW!

Though I still have to call Tito out on that. Castlevania was never praised for its exploration mechanics (that didn't even exist as far as we knew until SotN, at which point the series was already established). Castlevania was praised for simply being a solid action game that would kick your ass down the block and back again, into the back yard, through the neighbor's gate, and then leave you bleeding in some alley about 5 miles away next thing you know. Yet despite that it was very playable, and very beatable if you were willing to get good at it. On top of being a solid game, people loved the series for it's setting.

Even when SotN came out, it wasn't the exploration that made the game, it's that it was simply a good game. The same game done in a linear level-by-level fashion would have been just as good simply because playing as Alucard was so fun, mixed with the awesome combat visuals, fantastic music, and some really fun boss fights. The fact that it was explorable was just a new gameplay direction, but never a defining attribute, especially not for the series as a whole.

So I'm sorry to say this, but you've lost a little cred there, Tito. As long as it has solid gameplay, takes place in a gothic setting, and has a Belmont: It's Castlevania.

 

[The Random One]

You had me at 'unicorn made of stars'.

 

[RowdyRodimus]

I'm so sick of these companies hiring AAA actors to do voice work when they could go to any community theater and hire someone for pennies on the dollar to do te same thing. Having Patrick Stewart do a monologue won't push more copies than having Joe Smith, all it does is bump up the production costs and that gets passed down to us. Then if the game doesn't sell at the 59.99 price, they will blame either pirates or say the Castlevania brand is worthless.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

This is a pretty lazy project; this wasn't even MEANT to be a Castlevania at first, just some generic hack and slash that no one cared about when it was first shown. But then Konami decided that slapping on a big name franchise's name and making Kojima the spell-checker would instantly make the masses gobble it up regardless of common sense and principle. This is not Castlevania, it's a marketing scheme.

 

[Dragon Zero]

I kinda wish we'd get another Lament of Innocence but I'll remain hopeful for this, it could bring about a surprise you never know.

Actually when I first saw the game I though "Huh this is like a New version of Lament of Innocence. Sweet!" Of course I was hoping more people would remember that game before spouting off the whole "This is a God of War ripoff" thing but what can you do. And its kind of funny since when I first saw God of War in action I though it was Lament of Innocence mixed with the awesome Rygar game for the PS2. Still I'm cautiously optimistic about this, I feel that as long as it gets proper care it will not disappoint.

Its kind of funny how I'm excited about this yet deeply upset about Harmony of Despair. That game simply feels like they just hit Copy and Paste (more so than usual for Castlevania) until they came up with something to sell for a quick buck. Plus the series has been trying to push co-op for awhile to my utter bewilderment.

Still, this game is Dante's Castle of War. Which sucks.

As I said I feel as though it is more like Lament of Innocence than God of War. Even if its like a God of War game I feel as though it is to be expected since that is a very successful and easy to play franchise, it makes sense to add some of those elements in order to entice those that are not Castlevania fans to give this a try. Finally I feel that the way the game controls doesn't have as much to do with giving a Castlevania feel as having the Gothic imagery, varied monsters, and the series' fantastic music. Those, in my opinion, lend it way more of a Castlevania Vibe than the controls.

Anyway, enough Rambling, Order of Ecclesia isn't going to beat itself.